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18-403: Utrera ( Spanish pronunciation: [uˈtɾeɾa] ) is a municipality in south-west Spain . It is in the province of Seville , in the autonomous community of Andalusia . As of 2018 it has a population of 52,617. The town is of great historical interest. It was occupied by Muslims in the 8th century and was not finally incorporated into the kingdom of Castile until 1340. Records about

36-548: A building dating to the 14th century, most recently used as a bar, was actually built as a synagogue more than 600 years ago. The discovery is evidence of a Jewish community in Utrera prior to the expulsion of Spain’s Jews in 1492 and is one of five still standing medieval synagogues in Spain. Utrera is considered the cradle of the fighting bull and the flamenco , and there are many cattle farms in its municipal district. The area

54-492: A low number of inhabitants. The area of the municipal territory (Spanish: término municipal ) usually ranges 2–40 km , but some municipalities span across a much larger area, up to the 1,750.33 km of Cáceres ', the largest municipality in the country. The average land area of a Spanish municipality is about 62.23 km (24.03 sq mi), while the average population is about 5,988 people. Municipalities were first created by decree on 23 May 1812 as part of

72-412: A term often also used to refer to the municipal headquarters (city/town hall). The ayuntamiento is composed of the mayor (Spanish: alcalde ), the deputy mayors (Spanish: tenientes de alcalde ) and the deliberative assembly ( pleno ) of councillors ( concejales ). Another form of local government used in small municipalities is the concejo abierto (open council), in which the deliberative assembly

90-420: Is a system of government and administration of some very small Spanish municipalities and sub-municipal territorial units . An example of direct democracy , the system allows for the existence of a mayor and a consejo (English: council ) or asamblea vecinal (English: neighbourhood assembly ) formed by all the electors of the municipality. In contrast, the conventional system used by most municipalities

108-431: Is extended to Spanish citizens living abroad. A Spaniard abroad, upon registering in a consulate , has the right to vote in the local elections of the last municipality they resided in. A Spanish citizen born abroad must choose between the last municipality his or her mother or father last lived in. As of 2022, there were a total of 8,131 municipalities in Spain, including the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla . In

126-451: Is formed by all the electors in the municipality. The operation of the municipalities is broadly outlined by the 1985 Local Government Act. The Statutes of Autonomy of the various autonomous communities also contain provisions and many sectorial laws from national and autonomous community government determine the functions and powers of ayuntamientos. In general, municipalities enjoy a large degree of autonomy in their local affairs: many of

144-459: Is known for numerous festivities, particularly the fair , which is celebrated during the days before and after the day of Utrera's patron saint : the Virgin of Consolación. This fiesta attracts many people from all over Andalusia and Spain as a whole. Utrera is also known for the mostachón , a kind of small flattened cake made with sugar and cinnamon. Utrera's climate is characterized by

162-429: Is no implied hierarchy or primacy of one over the other. Instead the two entities are defined according to the authority or jurisdiction of each ( Spanish : competencias ). Some autonomous communities also group municipalities into entities known as comarcas (districts) or mancomunidades (commonwealths). The governing body in most municipalities is called ayuntamiento ( municipal council or corporation ),

180-723: Is the ayuntamiento , often translated as city, town or municipal council in English, comprised (in its most basic form) of the local councillors who form the plenary (elected in a party-list proportional representation voting), and the Mayor, elected in turn by the councillors among themselves. The origins of the system trace back to the Middle Ages, as a custom primarily originated in the Kingdoms of León and Castile , although it also extended to other territories as well, chiefly in

198-492: The Principality of Asturias , municipalities are officially named concejos (councils). The average population of a municipality is about 5,300, but this figure masks a huge range: the most populous Spanish municipality is the city of Madrid , with a population of 3,305,408 (2022) , while several rural municipalities have fewer than ten inhabitants ( Illán de Vacas , had a population of three in 2022 ). Almost 40% of

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216-472: The Spanish population resides in just 62 municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. 84% (6,817) of municipalities have less than 5,000 inhabitants. Castile and León alone account for 28% of municipalities but they constitute less than 6% of the population of Spain. A European report said that one of the most important problems facing local governments in Spain is the very high number of little towns with

234-513: The annual alternation between a dry period, which lasts more than four months and has high temperatures, and a humid season in autumn and winter with mild temperatures. The monthly distribution of rain corresponds to the one typical of the Mediterranean climate; the rainy season takes place during the autumn and the winter. During summer the absence of rain prevails, except for very occasional summer storms. About 40% of rainfall occurs during

252-594: The autumn. The average annual temperature is 17.5 °C. The average absolute maximum temperature is 41.9 °C. The coldest month is January and the average absolute minimum temperature is 0.8 °C. Sunny days with cloudless skies are predominant year round. [REDACTED] Media related to Utrera at Wikimedia Commons 37°10′59″N 5°46′01″W  /  37.183°N 5.767°W  / 37.183; -5.767 Municipalities of Spain Although provinces are groupings of municipalities , there

270-495: The functions of the comarcas and provinces are municipal powers pooled together. All citizens of Spain are required to register in the municipality they live in, and after doing so, they are juridically considered "neighbors" (residents) of the municipality, a designation that grants them various rights and privileges, and which entail certain obligations as well, including the right to vote or be elected for public office in said municipality. The right to vote in municipal elections

288-538: The liberal reforms associated with the new Spanish Constitution of 1812 and based on similar actions in revolutionary France. The idea was to rationalise and homogenise territorial organisation, do away with the prior feudal system and provide equality before the law of all citizens. Between 1812 and 1931, the legislation regarding municipal organisation was changed more than 20 times, and there were 20 addition and unsuccessful proposals for change. Concejo abierto The concejo abierto (literally: "open council")

306-520: The north of the Iberian Peninsula. In many settlements, the concejo abierto was replaced by the " regimiento " system (also called consejo cerrado , "close council"), in which a decision-making body of limited size formed by judges or alcaldes as well as a number of regidores appointed by the King was contemplated; in the case of Castile, this process chiefly took place between 1345 and

324-452: The town date back to the 13th century, when Alfonso X overran Utrera as part of his conquest of Seville , located 30 km to the northwest. However, archaeological work shows people have lived on the site since pre- Roman times. Today the town's five chapels ,dating from the 14th to 18th centuries, churches and 14th century castle are popular tourist attractions for visitors to Andalusia. Archeologists have recently discovered that

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